TWTPoll: SI Captcha Anti-Spam WP Plugin

THIS is the ALTERNATIVE TO AKISMET that provides the SOLUTION to being Flagged as a Spammer! Spread it throughout the blogosphere and your comments will work again.

Are my regular readers know we sincerely want to make sure every commentator has their say while keeping spam to a manageable level. Since we disabled Akismet in this blog, comment spam primarily from bots has increased to 600+ on some days.

We are testing alternative ways to keep the spam out while making sure our readers comments are all getting through. We need your feedback on whether the SI Captcha Anti-spam plugin currently installed in this blog is reducing comments or preventing real commentators from commenting.

It only takes a minute to check one box to complete our poll so we will know how you feel and can share this input with other bloggers.

Please leave a comment first to make sure you can still comment here.

If you have any additional feedback comment in this post or use the contact information to let us know. We DO want to hear from you.

Gail Gardner is the founder of GrowMap.com. She is a Small Business Marketing Strategist she mentors small businesses, bloggers, and freelancers.
After 23 years in the field with IBM and 5.5 years managing AdWords accounts, her focus shifted to small business marketing strategy. GrowMap.com is listed by Cision as a Top 100 Site for Marketers and has received three Small Business Influencer Awards from Small Business Trends. Named by D&B a Top 50 SMB Influencer on Twitter, you can follow Gail @GrowMap and on LinkedIn.

Comments

It seems there were only few voters. But I don’t think a captcha will be a hindrance for us readers, as long as our comments will be published. We would understand why you do it if you say 600+ spam attacks is the thing you are dealing with. 😉

How do you know? It does block spam – yes. But you have no way of knowing how many potential buyers had the door slammed in their face and left forever. I do not use Akismet on any site because buyers are too hard to come by to treat them that way.

Since relying solely on this plugin, I occasionally get spam comments reported by email. When I visit the blog, I find that this plugin is deactivated, although it has been active. I keep my plugins updated with WPManagerDX, and it’s possible that’s the problem, but I doubt it. The plugin’s developer doesn’t know of any problem, but I’m wondering if hackers have learned to deactivate this without logging into wp-admin.

I’d be interested to know if anyone else has seen this kind of behavior.
.-= Lane Lester@website design´s featured blog ..Website Promotion =-.

I hate captcha codes sometimes i can’t read it even after refreshing, some of them are stupid to write in grey on a black background, how can we read it! And also, sometimes it said we type the wrong code even when it is right! To prevent from spammers, i recommand you using another type of plugin instead of this captcha.

Umm… was going to leave this comment so I could try the captcha, but there’s nothing here. Just a submit button, and no verification / anti-spam that I can see.
.-= Gomez @ autoglass repair´s featured blog ..PSA- Seventeen’s Two Seconds campaign =-.

I was consistently unable to comment on any post with the captcha thing. It said I mistyped it and to hit my back browser button, but then I had to start all over again. I was locked in a loop of not being able to comment. Urgh.
.-= stephaniesuesansmith´s featured blog ..Understanding the USDA Plant Zone Map =-.

This Captcha is surprisingly easy to read. Usually I have to try three or four times before getting it right.
I also heard about this problem with Akismet and I think a lot of blogs are going to move away from it soon because of how it blocks IP addresses.
I also like Wedding DJs suggestion. Giving a certain number of comments before allowing a dofollow tag encourages commenting and discourages spammers.
.-= Laura Davis@Auto Loan Rates´s featured blog ..Wall Street Reform is Finally Here- But Why Should We Care =-.

I have it set to medium difficulty because higher was hard for some to read. There are so many problems with blocking IP addresses because most are dynamically assigned by ISPs so you get a different one every time you log on.

Smart spammers don’t use the same IP address every time and are probably putting in random IP addresses with some tool and getting all kinds of people blocked.

Another problem with Akismet is that some bloggers have a very broad definition of spam so many active commentators who don’t even sell anything have been flagged as spammers incorrectly.

I don’t like those plugins that count the number of comments before going dofollow. Spammers are more likely to know how those work so they just leave more comments and other bloggers don’t so they think your blog is nofollow. I prefer to be 100% dofollow.

One other problem with both those plugins and Top Commentator plugins is that they use what you put in the name field so if you use different name and keyword combinations in KeywordLuv-enabled blogs the counts are never accurate.

You don’t have to leave 3-10 comments TOTAL – you have to leave 3-10 comments per name combination to get them to all be dofollow.

I just commented at a blog with no spam control, and it was really a mess. Since adding the captcha you use here, plus a long blacklist (I wish I remembered who I got that from), I’ve had very little trouble with spam.
.-= Lane Lester´s featured blog ..Re-Discover “The Magic of Sallie Ellington Middleton Art” =-.

We all have to remember there is more to spam than blocking it and that is NOT blocking real comments. Blacklists can block a lot of valid comments because any word in the blacklist that appears in a valid comment sends it to spam too.

I hope everyone who uses blacklists remembers that if a word on the list is part of other words THEY will be blocked too. If you block ass for example that also blocks any comment with assume, assumption, brass or any other word with those three letters in that order in it.

Many blacklists include words like marketing, selling, networking, and business so any comment that uses any of those words will be blocked. We discuss those subjects in this blog and most real people will not realize they are blocked words and their comments won’t get through.

I know that most bloggers are willing to trade lost real comments for less spam but when the shoe is on the other foot – when a blogger ends up on the censored list and their comments can not get through – they may decide that not losing the ability to comment is worth the trouble of dealing with more spam.

P.S. Even if you are really famous in your niche it is better to use what you do for your keywords instead of just your name in a KeywordLuv-enabled blog. For example, instead of Lane Lester you could link any of these or other phrases you prefer:

Arrgh! I just got bit by the disappearing comment! But yes, I know about KeywordLuv; I just saw the CommentLuv and decided to promote a site I just installed, but forgot about the extra luv. Thanks for the reminder.

I checked my blacklist, and it was OK except I decided to delete the IPs and see how it goes.

There’s a new kind of spammer that collects some of the stuff from your post, making the comment look almost legitimate.
.-= Lane Lester@Website Installed´s featured blog ..Where Good Food Meets Great Prices- and Everybody Knows Your Name- It’s on the Square in Downtown Clarkesville- It’s Natalie Jane’s =-.

The use of Captcha without Akismet is an option, I’ve never really investigated. I’ll probably find a captcha plug-in that works with W3 Total Cache then test run it for 1 week without Akismet turned on 😉
.-= Udegbunam Chukwudi@Blog Setup Service´s featured blog ..Top 7 Ways Of Getting Your Comments Approved Online =-.

he last time I checked this plug-in had issues with wordpress cache plug-ins like WP Super Cache. Any ideas if they’ve fixed that?
.-= Udegbunam Chukwudi@Make Money Online´s featured blog ..Sht Can Happen With Reseller Web Hosting Take Note! =-.

I really do not appreciate the CPATCHA Anti-SPAM Plugin. If an Anti-SPAM plugin is applied in the blog to keep the blog clean and to pay tribute to the bloggers, how about it in favor of commentors? A commentor is deprived of its right and confidence when see such words as “YOUR COMMENT WILL BE MODERATED AND POST WITH APPROVAL.”

If you read any of my posts about Akismet you’ll find out that anti-spam plugins are blocking far more comments than captcha ever could. Tons of real commentators are flagged by those types of plugins as spammers and they never see the message that your comment is being moderated.

Depending on the settings the blogger has configured in Akismet, they either get a blank white page or no moderation message and their comment goes directly into spam – which might not be so bad except that many bloggers never review what goes to spam so it might as well be deleted.

There are five posts on this blog about the issues with Akismet and it is only one of the anti-spam plugins that is censoring every comment of some people and some comments of every person. They should be linked together and you can also find them using the categories.

Well my original comment was that I’m quite happy using this captcha (compared to others), but then it told me I’d entered the wrong code and had to press back, which cleared my original comment!
.-= Ste@North Yorkshire Moors Mountain Bike Routes´s featured blog ..Its nearly august… =-.

I have this exact captcha system installed on my blog. Since I have I have more genuine views of my blog and more sincere comments. Of course it is not bot proof. I have found spam comments using them so I guess new software are combating this issue. I do however do not feel you are missing out on genuine commentors rather dissecting the good from the bad. I think you should keep it.

Akismet APPEARS to be a better solution to some because they don’t clearly understand what it is doing. My current feeling is if typing in four characters will get my comment through better than not typing them in that a captcha might be my friend.

I haven’t noticed any problems with the captcha. To tell you the truth I find them slightly irritating – they’re getting more and more difficult to read by the day! However, it seems that they are a necessary evil in todays world.
.-= Daniel Rose @motivation, corporate culture, and employee engagement specialist´s featured blog ..Why most online “marketing specialists” miss the mark =-.

I am testing this because I was up to 600 spam comments a day – most of them bot generated. I set it easy to read hoping it was not too annoying.

Two tips for you to grow your blog and business:

1) When you choose keywords 2-3 words that someone is likely to search on is better than a phrase like the one you used in your comment here. The primary benefit of the link is to be found when someone is searching for what you do. The phrase you used is a good call-to-action for those reading it here though.

2) Check out the CommentLuv Default Anchor Text Links that allow you to use call-to-actions or keyword phrases for specific posts or pages when you comment in CommentLuv-enabled blogs.

I don’t mind an easy to read captcha that I don’t have to try 10 times. 🙂 This one is easy. I can’t wait to hear your opinion on how you think it is working.
.-= Melinda@Simple Home Organization´s featured blog ..How irrational shopping decisions cause clutter =-.

I turned it off because Stephanie was not able to comment but just turned it back on because I’m getting flooded with bot generated spam. I’m hopeful that maybe I can find a whitelist blacklist plugin that would be even better.
.-= growmap´s featured blog ..WordPress WhiteList BlackList Plugin Wanted =-.

I have recently installed the no follow plug and still get very little spam. I am guessing that it is just a matter of time. I will keep this one in mind if it starts to become a problem. Thank you for the information.

Perhaps it would be more user friendly if it were visible from the comment box – I often miss it since I only scroll down to the point where I can type my comment. I haven’t had any problems with this captcha yet but I wonder if there would be risk of losing comments if you submit before seeing and entering the captcha code. (nothing more frustrating than typing a long comment only to have it disappear)
.-= Chris@Sports Cars for Sale´s featured blog ..1969 Chevy Camaro SS for Sale =-.

IMHO, Akismet is far worse because it either deletes comments completely without telling either the commentator or the blogger OR it doesn’t tell you your comment is being moderated because it has been sent into SPAM.

Even with Akismet turned off, WordPress apparently blocks comments from immediately appearing if the commentator has been flagged as a spammer.

The reason I am testing the captcha is because I was getting 600+ comments a day most of them left by bots. With the captcha I have less than 100 a day.

Because the blogger has no control over WordPress choosing to not let your comments go live immediately. This blog has Akismet disabled because so many of our regular commentators have been unfairly flagged as spammers by it.

The box checked in WP that any commentator with one approved comment should have their subsequent comments go live immediately.

There are at least two reasons why that might not happen:

1) You used different words in the name field which would be likely in a blog that also offers KeywordLuv.

2) That WordPress blocks your comments from going live because you have been flagged as a spammer.

I highly recommend testing to find out if they have and if that is the case appealing to Akismet. The information on how to do that is in the post I’ll put in CommentLuv.
.-= Gail @ NO Akismet´s featured blog ..Find Out If Akismet Has YOU Flagged as a Spammer =-.

The captcha code you are using is very easy to read and is not intrusive. I have to admit that I know a lot of people (including me) that get ticked off with this type of anti-spam technique, but in this case I am not bothered at all (because it is easy). I hope this works for you and that your experiment could bring some light into whether this is in fact a good alternative. I’ll be very interested to know how it turns up.
.-= DiTesco´s featured blog ..Introducing Multi-Blog Advertising Campaign =-.

Have you tried the Typepad Antispam plugin.. they have it for WP and it’s worked much better than Akismet for me even though its based on the same API calls, much better service in my opinion. You’ll never stop manual spammy comments, but it sure does help a lot for me.
.-= Aaron´s featured blog ..blogReaction Introduces Revenue Sharing on Free Blogging Platform =-.

Thanks for the link. I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. I turned the captcha off for now because some were having problems with it as you can see from the comments in this post.
.-= growmap´s featured blog ..How to Build a Successful Blog Based Business =-.

Yikes! Disabling Akismet is like leaving your house unlocked and relying on the alarm system (of neighbors). Captcha works for me, I wonder how it will work for you! 🙂
.-= Colleen@Kennewick Homes´s featured blog ..Barnard Griffin Winery’s 5 for 5 at 5-00pm =-.

I had to disable it – too many of my favorite people have been flagged by Akismet as spammers. I was hoping Captcah might work but just turned it off because it wasn’t letting a regular commentator comment.

Clearing cookies might have worked for her but if she didn’t know what to do most people won’t. There may be no decent solution to the spam problem.

I would love to have you join our private blog club. There are several other realtors in other parts of the country who have blogs with whom you could collaborate. You can find out more about the private blog collaboration at that link.

Have you seen the information about Local Search Directories in the post I’ve put in CommentLuv? That could be very beneficial for your business.
.-= growmap´s featured blog ..Local Search Directory Listings =-.

This is one of the more readable and brief captchas. Since I’ve eliminated Akismet from my blogs, I’ve started using this captcha and am having very little trouble with spam.
.-= Lane Lester´s featured blog ..What website can I go to for personalized college football jerseys =-.

I just turned the captcha off because Stephanie just sent me this message:

“I am consistently being told I am entering the wrong captcha even when I am not. I tried it logged in, not logged in, all caps, not all caps, doesn’t seem to matter. I get dumped on the error page and if I backspace to try again, my reply is gone and I must start completely over.”
.-= growmap´s featured blog ..How to Build a Successful Blog Based Business =-.

Although I know the importantance of Captcha, Maybe you should also take a poll about Which one is better. ReCaptcha, Captcha, Or SI Captcha! See which ones people like best!!
.-= Paul Sylvester´s featured blog ..Companies Just don’t Get it about Spam! =-.

I thought I’d find out first how many are totally anti-captcha and hope that those who are visually challenged will share their thoughts with us. There MUST be a solution we can all live with – or one we can create – that doesn’t censor quality comments.
.-= growmap´s featured blog ..Find Out If Akismet Has YOU Flagged as a Spammer =-.

The anti captcha are no dbout so valuable to eradicate spam, but they are such a pain for our clients. It adds time to contact forms, but this is time saved for us from having to go through lots of spam enquiries!Hanson would love you to read ..Pro Tile Roof